What would you build

Here is an additional link where the drive I suggested is tested. You will find it is ahead of the raptor most of the time, including the real file copying and loading type tests that you are using.

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14380
 
Problem is and again your missing the point.

Just because a hdd can copy fast does not means its faster than raptor.

No games even use close what file copying produce, nor do programs so having a good file copying aka data transfer means nothing in the real world, apart from copying files.

Go look at the random access times, this is where the raptor shines. Accessing anything on a raptor is twice as fast as any 7200 drive which makes it faster.

5 ms of course, but in real terms, it means anytime the hd needs to find something on the disk, it does it
(8/(13-8 ) )x100-100 percent faster, or 60% faster.
then after it finds the data, it transfers it (10/7.2)x100-100, 0r 38% faster.
depending on what things you are doing, you can expect them to be done 40-45% faster with a 10K hd, and raptors are reliable too.
if you are opening and closing documents or pic files all day, then you can save a lot of time. if you are playing games online, then you will be one of the first to enter the next map

Conclusions
Western Digital's Raptor X won our Editor's Choice award for being the fastest Serial ATA hard drive on the market—and for pushing the envelope by incorporating a window on the drive's internals. The WD1500ADFD trades the Raptor X's window for a lower price tag, and with the latest firmware, actually improves performance in a number of tests. For enthusiasts, that's a pretty sweet trade-off, especially if you don't even have a case window. That's why we're giving the WD1500ADFD an Editor's Choice award.


Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD
June 2006

With a $250 street price and 150 GB capacity, the WD1500ADFD may not be the most attractive hard drive from a cost per gigabyte perspective. However, the Raptor's performance is in a class all its own, particularly with multitasking and multi-user loads. It's no slouch with the single-user tasks typical of desktop PCs, either, although its advantage there is less pronounced.

At the end of the day, the Raptor WD1500ADFD is simply the fastest Serial ATA drive we've ever tested. It's perfect for enterprise-class workstations and servers, and easy to recommend for high-performance gaming rigs and enthusiast desktops. And you won't have to worry about
 
Last edited:
killadoob said:
Problem is and again your missing the point.

Just because a hdd can copy fast does not means its faster than raptor.

No games even use close what file copying produce, nor do programs so having a good file copying aka data transfer means nothing in the real world, apart from copying files.

Go look at the random access times, this is where the raptor shines. Accessing anything on a raptor is twice as fast as any 7200 drive which makes it faster.
Click to expand...

Umm, I did mention the loading test.

I'm not missing anything at all.

Sure I agree the raptor's access numbers are way ahead of the 7200 drives. However that is only of benefit when you have a truly randomized access pattern that requires the drive to incur seeks.

Due to it's higher desity platters the WD stores a far greater amount of data on a single cylinder therefore the odds that the random data is on the same cylinder are far greater than the raptor's. This means that the WD is more likely to be able to return data without incurring the penalty of a seek which is the slowest part of a disk service request.

I will agree that a highly randomized access pattern, now this is a generalized statement, such as that more often found in multiuser database and file servers would be far better off with the raptor. This is where you see the benefits of the even fatser high end scsi disks.
 
Well no because even a desktop user who does random windows things would see the benfit of everything opening twice as fast.

A normal work pc would see a massive boost, everything opens as they click on it, there is no lag no waiting just flawless computing with a raptor. Be it servers or desktop.

Thing is if you have never actually worked on a raptor you will never get an idea on how amazing and fast it really is, its all good and well to look at read/write benchies, one day take a raptor for a test drive i will bet you will change your mind.
 
killadoob said:
5 ms of course, but in real terms, it means anytime the hd needs to find something on the disk, it does it
(8/(13-8 ) )x100-100 percent faster, or 60% faster.
then after it finds the data, it transfers it (10/7.2)x100-100, 0r 38% faster.
depending on what things you are doing, you can expect them to be done 40-45% faster with a 10K hd, and raptors are reliable too.
if you are opening and closing documents or pic files all day, then you can save a lot of time. if you are playing games online, then you will be one of the first to enter the next map
Click to expand...

Replied to that last one before you added this part.
This is where you are going wrong. You are assuming every data i/o request incurs the drives "average seek" overhead.
This as I said in my previous reply is only true for highly randomized access which is rarely the case in desktop pc usage including the usage you speak of above.
 
Well we could argue you about all day lol

I have worked on both raptors and even raid 0 7200 and raptors make everyday windows stuff run flawlessly :).

Try a raptor and you will see for yourself how fast it is.
 
killadoob said:
Well no because even a desktop user who does random windows things would see the benfit of everything opening twice as fast.

A normal work pc would see a massive boost, everything opens as they click on it, there is no lag no waiting just flawless computing with a raptor. Be it servers or desktop.

Thing is if you have never actually worked on a raptor you will never get an idea on how amazing and fast it really is, its all good and well to look at read/write benchies, one day take a raptor for a test drive i will bet you will change your mind.
Click to expand...

I will only agree if we are talking about the recently released "VelociRaptor". The older generation raptors have been equalled and surpassed in performance (except highly randomized usage) by the latest generation (some) 7200 rpm drives.
 
killadoob said:
Well we could argue you about all day lol

I have worked on both raptors and even raid 0 7200 and raptors make everyday windows stuff run flawlessly :).

Try a raptor and you will see for yourself how fast it is.
Click to expand...

Would love to, but then only the 300GB VelociRaptor. Just can't see spending 3.5K on a 300GB drive when I can get 640MB for just under 1K and have pretty decent performance still.:)
 
No but they have not because the random access of 7200 drives has always remained 12 or more.

Raptors have always been under 6. I owned both 74gb raptor raid and now the 300gb velociraptor, there is no difference i just wanted a bit of extra space for windows.

The velociraptor is slightly faster i find than my old 74 gig raptor raid but not by much.

Yea but KB you have not worked on a raptor so you have no idea of the performance increase you get.

Its like going from a p4 3.0ghz to a core 2 e8500 clocked at 4.0ghz.

See i want the best performance, a fast hdd coupled with good cpu and lots of ram = performance pc and makes my working and gaming life a pleasure :)
 
killadoob said:
No but they have not because the random access of 7200 drives has always remained 12 or more.

Raptors have always been under 6. I owned both 74gb raptor raid and now the 300gb velociraptor, there is no difference i just wanted a bit of extra space for windows.

The velociraptor is slightly faster i find than my old 74 gig raptor raid but not by much.

Yea but KB you have not worked on a raptor so you have no idea of the performance increase you get.

Its like going from a p4 3.0ghz to a core 2 e8500 clocked at 4.0ghz.

See i want the best performance, a fast hdd coupled with good cpu and lots of ram = performance pc and makes my working and gaming life a pleasure :)
Click to expand...

Hehe still on an old P4 3ghz, hence my interest at the moment and nagging of the local guys to DROP THEIR PRICES on the Q9550 yesterday.:D

I'll say it once again "you do NOT incur the average access time on every single data request". That is why you cannot take that number and predict your overall performance at all. That is why in the real world we are seeing the "New generation 7200's" outperforming the "Older generation" raptors in many (most) scenarios.

Hey we've really derailled this thread anyway's.:)
 
Why is it derailed, we just get opinions on whether a raptor is worth it or not.

I think it could be quite useful to someone who is wondering.
 
Keeper said:
this isn't a thread, this is a cesspool of raptors...
Click to expand...

For the OP trying to get anything useful out of it, will be like trying to drain the swamp when you're up to your arse in crocodiles.:p
 
killadoob said:
Why is it derailed, we just get opinions on whether a raptor is worth it or not.

I think it could be quite useful to someone who is wondering.
Click to expand...

True.

Hehe, Learn not select a disc based on average access time alone :)
 
lol anyone who has used a raptor be it is old or new will tell you they rock :) and you should not judge the speed of hdd by read/write figures :p
 
Last edited:
These are the number that you have to go through when evaluating disk's performance.

1. Service time (access + transfer)
2. Access time(seek + latency)
3. Seek time - time taken to move the heads to the cylinder data location.
4. Latency - time to do 1 revolution (data under the head).
5. Transfer rate - time taken to transfer data from disk to buffer.

Very roughly that is it.
A full length seek is the slowest operation, transfer rates are slower on the inner cylinders (less data per revolution). Get a grip on these and you begin to understand why disks show different characteristics depending on access patterns.
 
KB lets put this to be bed now :)

I know for a fact that raptors kick arse, you THINK they dont perform that much better. Go try one and then come comment again, until then lets agree to disagree :p
 
For my next build, going to get 4 of the WD's and put them in a raid10 config. Going to be interesting. Think of this 1TB of storage with redundancy and good speed for about the same cost as a VelociRaptor.:D

Yip let's do that. :)
Now who's going to lend me a Velociraptor for a bit.:D
 
Last edited:
kb said:
For my next build, going to get 4 of the WD's and put them in a raid10 config. Going to be interesting. Think of this 1TB of storage with redundancy and good speed for about the same cost as a VelociRaptor.:D

Yip let's do that. :)
Now who's going to lend me a Velociraptor for a bit.:D
Click to expand...

sounds good to me...much more space too..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X